When we think of erotic power exchange, there are
numerous approaches. Most Americans approach it with a European Style. This
is most likely to the literary images brought to us by "The Story
of O", the Anne Rice novels, and simply because of the cultural
similarities.

Only a few in western BDSM have learned D/s from the Eastern
School. The Eastern School is a pure product of Japanese cultural and societal
invention. While there are many similarities, there are also many striking
differences. Learning these differences and respecting them is the basis
of good protocol.

1) First and most importantly just
about the entire SMBD scene of Japan is centered around rope bondage and
suspension, not corporal devices like
floggers and whips which take center stage in the Western American or
European scene. In Japan if you don't do rope, you are not doing SM. While
in the west, most people in the BDSM scene have no clue what to do with rope
and one would get the opposite response. Indeed I remember when I started
doing rope in the early 90's in the local clubs, almost no one knew what
it was. Some in the west will tell you, "oh yes, I started with a little
rope, but I've moved on to the real S&M". That is not to criticize
anyone, but it points out how little the west knows about the Japanese/ Eastern
School of D/s.

2) In the Eastern School, the
acronym is often seen as
"SMBD"or simply "SM", not BDSM as
it is in America and Europe. To speak of BDSM in Japan might not be probably
understood clearly.

3)
Teamwork.While there is definitely a
D/s (Dominant and submissive) component to the Eastern style, your typical
Japanese Dominant does not think of himself or herself in that light. In
the Eastern School the whole erotic power exchange is seen as teamwork. Teamwork,
just as it is emphasized in Japanese business, the Japanese SM-ers and Rope
Artists see themselves and what they do as a team undertaking.

4) The Japanese SM player
or bondager sees himself somewhat as a "Rope Artist".

In fact
one of the newer and trendier words in use today in Japan to describe
Rope ARt is "Nawa-kesho". Which
literally means "rope make-up" or the "cosmetics of rope". Nawa = rope
and kesho = a cosmetic art.

The old word
for this Rope Art is "Kinbaku"and is still in use today. It refers to the ancient cruel forms
of use of rope. A newer term "Nawa Shibari" ,
which means to bind with rope has been popularized recently for the
most part by commercial websites.

If you used the term Shibari in Japan the average Japanese on the street
would probably you are talking about fabric weaving and dying
(Shibori).